'No complaining': Pope Francis takes on moaners

Pope Francis carries the weight of the world's poor and suffering on his shoulders: the last thing he needs is people turning up at his apartment for a whinge.

Vietato lamentarsi (no complaining) reads a sign in Italian hung on the door to Pope Francis's private rooms in the Vatican that was given to him by a psychologist, according to a religious expert close to the pontiff.

Psychologist Salvo Noe, author of motivational guides, gave it to Francis at the end of an audience on Saint Peter's Square last month, journalist Andrea Tornielli said on the "Vatican Insider" website.

"I will put it up on my office door where I receive visitors," the pope is said to have promised with a smile.

But in the end he chose to hang it at the entrance to his modest living quarters in the Santa Marta hotel in the tiny state.

Pope Francis celebrates Mass at the Vatican

Alberto PIZZOLI, AFP/File

The Argentine often tries to buck up gloomy believers by telling them to cast off their melancholy and stop grumbling.

The sign's small print warns offenders "are subject to developing a victim complex, resulting in a lowering... of their capacity to solve problems".

"The penalty is doubled whenever the violation is committed in the presence of children," it says, adding: "To be your best you have to focus on your own potential and not on your limits, so stop whining and act to make your life better".